It is incredible that rapid innovation wasn’t used by Japan in approaching their Fukushima disaster. Do they, despite the fact that they file more patent applications in the U.S. than U.S. citizens do, not understand the other purposes of the patent system?

If it has been overlooked, allow me to sound the bell, Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations encyclopedia emphatically pointed out that repetitive processes have the effect of making one stupid and inflexible in their thinking. Filing patents for the financial wealth creating effects is to use only about 10% of the benefits of the system.

In the Babbage interview of Mr. Musk it seemed apparent that some communication disconnect was afoot. The interview was apparently a sort of advertisement for the creative genius of Musk. The transfer of technology from car making processes to rocket design seemed the most on point part of the discussion.

I apologize to the memories of the Wright Bros. and Mr. Sikorsky and Adam Smith for the failure of innovation that has beset mankind for our success at wealth accumulation and distribution. WE can make huge power generators that efficiently use Nuclear power only we never learned of Williston on Torts.

I would beg Mr. Babbage to drill down on how wealth can make one stupid as an urgent study as to why so many millionaires and billionaires cannot rapidly innovate to create a happier means of governance. We are afloat in wealth and stupidity.

I apologize for the bad writing above. RE innovation; I meant to point out that while we can make Nuclear generators we cannot make them to be safe because we keep shooting for maximizing profit and we miss out on impressing ourselves with our withheld ability to make them safe. If we understood Williston on torts we would not have been "negligent" in the design or refitting of the generators for gravity fed and other redundant dousing means.

In so doing we fail to teach our children of the benefits of being intelligent over that of being profitably shrewd. This may well have been apparent by making nuclear design available to all holders of that technology in the same way that the patent system categorizes technical knowledge in virtually all technical fields.

As a sovereign nation Japan should have a better grasp of the uses of knowledge as made available via the patent system. They should have refit their generators. In some bureaucratic corner of their system as in ours such insight is held by some clerk but because of his or her political disconnect from power and wealth it goes unnoticed and unheeded, and we are all the poorer and retarded in true wealth for it.

Musk has an inspirational and grandiose approach to problems.
But he seems willfully blind to certain laws of physics.
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To make a fully reusable spacecraft that lands with retrorockets on the Moon and returns with its full bulk, is like traveling with the bulk of a small skyscrapper, most of it as dead weight particularly after initial Low Earth Orbit Takeoff.
To land even a single killogram weight from earth orbit with retro rockets will take several tons of fuel.
To land with even a 2 G landing impact, would compromise spaceship hulls to make them unuseable if not a catastrophic fireball.
Apollo was as tall as the Statue of Liberty and the biggest movable airborn object every constructed by man.
And every single ounce had to be accounted and weight shaved down to astronaut's paper map borders and toothbrush handles.
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Going to Mars will lkely be a one way suicide mission for any astronaut.
Leaving Earth, we lose the ionic radiation shield of the atmosphere and magnetosphere. And the shielding of the planet.
Gamma radiation from the Sun, Cosmic Galactic Radiation, and Pulsars make interplanetary space travel the equivalent of being subject to a nuclear war. And your bomb shelter is a soup can.
Mutations, cancer, leukemia, anemia, bleeding, listlessness, depression, and death are predictable results on the trip or on the planet.
The healthiest young astronaut will be an ICU patient late in the mission.
And their capsule will also likely be their coffin.
Our DNA is not durable enough for space travel.
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To make a spacecraft that goes to Mars would necessitate building a ship much bigger than Apollo. Bulk compartments the size of the Titanic for 1-3 passengers. And to make it a resuable craft that lands with retrorockets back on its launch pad, it would initally weigh more than the Great Pyramids of Egypt.
Musks watches too many Sci-Fi Films and has a distorted view of physics.
His approach is more gleaned from Star Wars and Star Trek, rather than the real Apollo Missions.
His visionary approach would make make a great Sci-Fi Film producer, but he does not know the dangers of space, the fragility of life, or the tragedy of cancer.
Musk's enthusiasm needs to be grounded more in reality.

You are not going to have sex with the Queen of the Galaxy, battle parasitic egg laying Aliens, or have a fist fight with Shatner if you are dying of radiation sickness while orbiting Mars.
Consider other problems of our time:
One half of humanity has no access to clean drinking water or reliable electricity.
Or new renewable organic transportation fuels.
Or clean coal technology.
Global warming and rising seas.
THOSE are the physics problems that Musk should address instead of sending 3 men to Mars.
If he wants to indulge in fantasy, he should just produce the next block buster sci-fi film.

Believe me, Elon Musk understands the laws of physics, particularly as they apply to rockets. He can tell you exactly how many watts of heat per square inch the Dragon needs to absorb when returning from low-earth orbit versus landing on Mars. When talking about this stuff he likes to drill down into the detail and the numbers very quickly, whether it's on rocket design or lithium-battery technology.

His proposal is that Dragon spacecraft be sent to Mars unmanned, as a science platform and perhaps to do sample return using a small rocket that would launch from the top of the vehicle. He is not proposing to land a Dragon on Mars and then have it take off again. His proposed MCT (Mars Colony Transport) rocket would be far larger than Saturn V, so it would be able to lift a much larger craft. Finally, the latest results from Curiosity suggest that the surface of Mars, at least, has an acceptably low level of radiation. Astronauts would indeed need shielding on the way, but that is something mission designers, not just Mr Musk, have been thinking about for years.

well said but... That's just the tip of the obscurity! The politics of doing those meritorious things you talk about is/are enough to drive one to Mars! Let's hope when Musk happily returns; He'll have acquired insight into how to deliver food and water to the poor whilst bypassing the politicians!

The problem of increasing carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere is one of the biggest problems we face today on our little planet. Musk is directly addressing this through his vision of an all-electric, solar-powered society via the two companies Solar City and Tesla. That puts him head and shoulders above those who are not engaged in similar large-scale efforts, in terms of solving the problems of our time.

Throughout history, there have been great men who dreamed big, and they have always been surrounded by other men who yelled "Folly" from the sidelines. Newton "stood on the shoulders of giants". The Wright Brothers didn't build a 747, but they paved the way. If Musk wants to dream of an inter-planetary society, and wants to apply his skills and wealth to further that endeavor, I believe that calling it folly is a travesty to mankind.

What would the world look like if the critics were in charge? There would be little to no innovation, progress or breakthroughs.

The problem of increasing carbon dioxide levels in our atmosphere is one of the biggest problems we face today on our little planet. Musk is directly addressing this through his vision of an all-electric, solar-powered society via the two companies Solar City and Tesla. That puts him head and shoulders above those who are not engaged in similar large-scale efforts, in terms of solving the problems of our time.

Throughout history, there have been great men who dreamed big, and they have always been surrounded by other men who yelled "Folly" from the sidelines. Newton "stood on the shoulders of giants". The Wright Brothers didn't build a 747, but they paved the way. If Musk wants to dream of an inter-planetary society, and wants to apply his skills and wealth to further that endeavor, I believe that calling it folly is a travesty to mankind.

What would the world look like if the critics were in charge? There would be little to no innovation, progress or breakthroughs.

"people go to Japan to ride the Bullet train". I went to China to ride the Maglev bullet train - it didn't hit the max 500km/hr as the distance it covered was only about 40kms. Still a great experience.

On certain occasions visitors could visit the Yamanashii linear motor test bed (near mount Fuji) and ride the Maglev. That one does hit 500KM/HR on test runs, and runs for the publi (at least on my little joy ride).